Berth guard and ladder



(No Model.)

J. PLAUT. BERTH GUARD AND LADDER.

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Witnesses Inventor 0? @JMM [n1 'YY $93 Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH PLAUT, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

BERTH GUARD AND LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,516, dated May 5, 1891.

Application filed February 24, 1891- Serial No. 382,347. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH PLAUT, of Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Berth Guards and Ladders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to berth guards and ladders for use in sleeping-cars, steamers, 850., and my improvements will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of two upper and two lower berths of an ordinary sleeping car fitted with my improved ladder and guard, the device appearing at theleft as a ladder and at the right as a berth-guard; Fig. 2, a perspective View of a portion of one of the ladder-rails, showing the preferred method of securing the ladder-rungs to the rails; Fig. 3, a perspective view of an exemplifying hook at the ends of the ladder-rails; Fig. 4, a side elevation of a portion of one of the headboards or partitions between the berths, illustrating a form of attaching device to receive the hooks of the berth-guard; and Fig. 5, a perspective view of one of the straps employed to secure the ladder to the upper berth.

In the drawings, A indicates the usual lower berths of a sleeping-car; B, the usual upper berths; O, the usual curtain-rail over the berths D, the usual head-boards or vertical partitions between the berths; E, hookbars in mortises at the front edges of the head-boards above the upper berth and forming attaching devices for the ladder F, short straps, a pair on the front edge of each upper berth, one end of each strap being permanently secured to the berth, while the other end is arranged to button to the berth; G, a ladder, shown at the left of Fig. 1 as arranged fonuse as a ladder proper in getting into and out of the upper berth, and shown at the right as arranged for use as a front guard for the upper berth to prevent the sleeper from being thrown out; H, the rails of the ladder, formed, preferably, of leather; J, the rungs of the ladder, formed, preferably, of twisted rope-strands or wire, these rungs passing through transverse holes in the ladder-rails; K, a button at each end of each rung outside the ladder-rail, the strands of which the rung is formed being run through the holes in the button, the button thus preventing the rung from pulling out of the ladder-rail; L, a hook secured in any suitable manner at each end of each ladder-rail.

WVhen the ladder is in the position shown at the left of Fig. 1, it is held to the upper berth by the straps F, the lower end of the ladder hanging freely down beyond thelower berth, but not necessarily attached thereto. In this condition the ladder can be used for getting into and out of the upper berth. When the ladder is to be used as a berthguard, its ends are engaged with the attaching devices on the head-boards, as will be readily understood from the right-hand por-' tion of Fig. 1.

I claim as my invention 1. In a berth guard and ladder, the combination, substantially as set forth, of an upper berth, vertical partitions at the head and foot of the berth, provided with attaching devices, a ladder provided with hooks at its ends to engage said attaching devices when the ladder is disposed horizontally, and fastenings at the front edge of the berth to engage the ladder when disposed vertically.

2. In aberth guard and ladder, the combination, substantially asset forth, of ladderrails H, provided with end fastening devices, buttons K, and stranded ladder-rungs J, engaging the ladder-rails and buttons.

JOSEPH PLAUT.

Witnesses:

JAMES GUNNING, WM. SOHRAEFENBERGER. 

